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Saturday, November 7, 2015

Tulsa Woodward Park and Conservatory

Back in August, Tyler and I visited Tulsa while he had a work conference. So it was more like I visited Tulsa by myself and then ate dinner with Tyler after he worked. I made a draft for this blog post in August and forgot about it (we've been really busy these past few months), so it is going to be posted in November. Lucky for youme hubby is working this Saturday, so I have some time to do some things for myself and with the blog!

Although I've lived in Oklahoma all my life, Tulsa was usually a bit far for my family to travel since we've always been in the central part, so I haven't been there many times. I went to the renowned venue Cain's Ballroom for my first concert when I was 15, another concert at the BOK Center in college (do you get my drift that Tulsa has all the good venues, OKC is trying to catch up but not quite there yet). I went to the art museums while in high school, but otherwise I have not been there besides trips that were for very specific purposes or that were under close supervision.

This trip I discovered that Tulsa has some very amazing recreational areas and parks - Woodward Park reminded me much of some of the large parks I saw when I visited the U.K. This particular post I'm going to focus on this beautiful conservatory.

Near the historical society there is the Lord & Burnham Conservatory with some very beautiful cacti, ferns, orchids, and other exotic plants. It has separate rooms, all with their own climate to accommodate certain species of plants.

From the Cactus Room:

I really can't get over the webbing on these. I think they are so beautiful.

The gardener there said he had just watched this flower open up about 45 minutes before I came there. The flower emits a smell to draw the flies, which in turn pollinate it.

The Tropical Room - has palms, ferns, etc.

I just love the white infrastructure - it was built in 1924.

I enjoyed at least a good hour walking through the conservatory observing the different plants. The gardener was also happy to walk me around and show me some plants that were particularly special or difficult to care for. There's just something about this old structure that is also pleasant.

Hopefully I'll have some time now to share a little more often on the blog what we've been up to and maybe some projects here and there.